DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. — Don’t be surprised if 2012 Sprint Cup champion Brad Keselowski is not quite as outspoken and critical this season as he has been in the past.

It’s not that Keselowski is tired of paying NASCAR fines — he estimates he’s paid out more than $75,000 in fines the past few years. Instead, he’s taking his criticism and strong opinions about the sport behind closed doors, talking directly to NASCAR officials about changes he thinks should be made.

After being fined and called on the carpet several times for being outspoken and critical, Keselowski says he now has more of a private forum with NASCAR officials.

Asked if he had been muzzled by NASCAR officials, Keselowski said, “I don’t have a muzzle on my face right now, but maybe I should have.

“I’m in an increasingly difficult position as a champion of this sport to try to convey the very strong situation and the health of this sport, which, although it could always be better, is not terrible, and also my own personal agenda to be a champion that moves this sport forward,” Keselowski said at NASCAR Media Day.

“I think the most significant way I can answer that question is I think quite a few back channels have opened up within NASCAR over the last six to eight months that have given me the ability to not have to go to the media to get something done. That fits my personal and professional agenda, and out of respect for that I think it maybe creates a situation where what might look like a muzzle to you or to the outside is perhaps more a moment of opportunity I just don’t want to piss away.”

Keselowski has been fined for criticizing NASCAR penalties and its inspection process and for making other statements that were critical of the sport and the sanctioning body’s policies and procedures. He had to meet with NASCAR officials just prior to last season for criticizing NASCAR’s business model and was later openly critical of NASCAR implementing baseline testing for concussions.

Keselowski admits now that he may have been a bit too harsh and may have gone too far in some of his public criticism.

“Are there things I could do better? Absolutely, but the mistakes are what builds your character and helps you become the person that you are and that you can learn from, so they’re only a mistake if you don’t grow and learn from them,” he said.

It appears, though, that those mistakes may have led to Keselowski having more contact and more input with top NASCAR officials. As a former champion, he believes he has NASCAR’s ear more than in the past, even more than last year, when he was the defending champ.

“Either that or just being so damn annoying that people start listening to you — one of the two,” he said. “I don’t know why channels are the way they are … but I do feel like this sport has grown a lot over the last year in the sense of new people, new hires, and a new level of transparency that will serve it for years to come. It’s not really fair for me to answer why it has been the way it has, but from my perspective it certainly has gotten better.”

Keselowski said he will continue to offer his strong opinions about issues in the sport, but added, “I just don’t think it’s as sharp.” He said he’s not being restrained from speaking out, but is simply “more informed.”

He believes some of his criticism has led to some of the changes NASCAR has made in the past two years.

“I don’t want to sit here and try to take credit for things that I didn’t do on my own because that would not be fair, but I feel confident that I had at least some small role in some of the changes that have gone on in this sport over this off-season, and I’m very happy for all of them,” he said.

“I’m still gonna be vocal about something that I disagree about that there’s no progress or no change being made on, but if there’s progress or change being made, then why be an (expletive).”